Simon Robey, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, today announced the appointment of Alex Beard to the position of Chief Executive.

Alex Beard comes to the Royal Opera House from Tate where he is currently Deputy Director. He will take up his post in readiness for the 2013/14 Season and be available for consultation on key strategic matters prior to his arrival.

Commenting on the appointment, Simon Robey said “Alex Beard has a passion for the work we do at the Royal Opera House. He also brings a wealth of managerial experience from his very successful partnership with Nick Serota at Tate, as well as the insights and perspectives that this role has given him. I am confident he will forge excellent partnerships with our artistic leadership and our executive team, and that they will, together, lead the Opera House to still greater heights.”

Alex Beard, aged 49, has been at Tate since 1994 and has been Deputy Director since 2002. With a lifelong interest in music, Alex has been on the board of Glyndebourne since 2008 and recently been awarded CBE for services to the arts.

During his 19 years at Tate, Alex has played a key role in its transformation, working closely with Nicholas Serota. He set the business plan for the creations of Tate Modern, led the Tate’s subsequent capital development programme at Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Tate St Ives including the launch of The Tanks in the summer of 2012 and has overseen all the business operations of the Tate family of galleries since 2000.

He said ‘I’m absolutely delighted to have been appointed Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House. To have the opportunity to build on Tony Hall’s achievements and strengthen the Royal Opera House’s reputation as one of the world’s leading artistic and creative forces is hugely exciting.’

‘I’m very proud to be joining a world class team led by Antonio Pappano, Kasper Holten and Kevin O’Hare, together with a superb executive and committed staff across the organisation.’

Sally O’Neill, Finance Director, will act as Interim Chief Executive until Alex Beard takes up his position. The remuneration for the new Chief Executive will be £250,000 per annum. In the financial year 2010/11 the Royal Opera House had a turnover of £109.5 million of which the Arts Council subsidy was £27.9 million, box office £37.7 million, donations, legacies and sponsorships £20.7 million, commercial trading, touring and other income was £23.2million.

The Kingdom of the Shades, Act III of Petipa’s La Bayadère, is one of the most celebrated moments in classical ballet. Mesmerizing and dream-like, the sequence involves the entire corps de ballet dancing across the stage in perfect unison. The dance, which reflects Solor’s opium-fuelled hallucination, demands absolute synchronization and is one of the ultimate tests for the dancers. Ballet Mistress Samantha Raine is currently in the middle of rehearsals. We caught up with her to find out more.

Why is The Kingdom of the Shades so well known?

It’s famous for the entrance of the 24 shades, where the girls perform a series of 39 arabesques. This is followed by a difficult adage sequence where they need to breathe and dance as one. It’s beautiful when you see it and looks stunning when all of the girls appear from behind the cloth.

How do you go about preparing the corps de ballet for such a sequence?

We start by teaching each step with the music so that everyone knows exactly how it works musically: when you step, when you lift your leg to the arabesque, which way you look, which way your arm goes - all of the details. Then, the challenge is getting everyone in line.

At the start of the sequence, the dancers enter via a ramp. We can rehearse most things in the studios, but unfortunately there is no ramp to practice on. We will only have about three or four stage calls for La Bayadère, and the dancers will have to get used to balancing on the ramp, and to the lights shining in their eyes.

I think it is one of the hardest dances for the corps de ballet nerve-wise. There are lots of holds and arabesques, and you just have to be really calm. It’s the most nervous you can get with that many people on stage because if one person puts their leg down or wobbles, your eye goes straight to that person. Also, you’re in tutus so there’s no hiding anything!

The girls are already thinking ahead, and lots of them are working hard in pilates classes to get extra strength in their ankles to prevent any wobbling. As a dancer, you know what’s in the rep and it’s up to you to be at your best.

I know from dancing the different roles that it was probably one of the scariest as a corps de ballet. However, it’s very rewarding afterwards when you know everyone has danced as one and in a team.

How do the dancers keep time and achieve these perfectly straight lines and formations?

It's a case of watching each other to make sure you’re in line. Your eyes have to go both ways – forwards and sideways – to check you are in line in both directions. It’s just practice really. To help achieve the straight lines, there will always be markings on the stage - tape is used to mark a centre line and lines from the centre to the wing, and to achieve unison, it is largely musical. Perhaps most of all, you have to be watching all the time.

Choreographer Natalia Makarova said: 'In this ballet the corps de ballet is the leading role and each member of it should feel like a ballerina. Yet the corps must always work together as a unified whole, they must dance and breathe as one'. How do you achieve this delicate balance?

Everyone is working together and no one wants to let anyone else down, but you also need to feel special. If you feel you are just one of 24, it doesn’t work because you’ll never get the right atmosphere or the right mood. You always need to work thinking that you are the only person on stage.